The genesis of this volume dates back to 1988, when the two of us were members of a committee that organized a scholarly conference celebrating the 175th anniversary of the battle of Lake Erie. Professor Skaggs was the coeditor of the volume of essays resulting from that meeting, and Mr. Altoff contributed the descriptive narrative of the battle contained therein. In the following years, we continued our interest in the engagement and its ramifications and made a variety of contributions broadening the understanding of various aspects of that battle.
In 1994 we began the collaborative work presented here. Our objectives were threefold: first, to provide an updated study of a battle that had not received serious scholarly analysis since Admiral Alfred Thayer Mahan wrote his Sea Power in Its Relations to the War of 1812 nine decades earlier; second, to reassess the Lake Erie campaign in its strategic and tactical dimensions using a greater variety of sources and a less nationalistic viewpoint than previously presented; and third, to incorporate the experiences of individuals from all sides and various levels of society who contributed to the outcome. Our focus is on the Lake Erie campaign, not just the battle off Put-in-Bay, Ohio. Because of this, we incorporated much more background on strategic and operational decisions made both in London and Washington and by regional army and navy commanders on both sides than previous studies have. Finally, we wanted to convey, as much as the record allowed, the personalities that contributed to and were affected by the struggle to control the upper Great Lakes during the first year and a half of the War of 1812.
A study of this sort involves more than those whose names appear on the title page. Professor Skaggs was the fortunate recipient of institutional support from Bowling Green State University, which provided released time, allowed him to pursue research far from his principal place of employment, and funded a graduate assistant and a research consultant. In addition, he received released research time during a visiting professorship from the Air War College of Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.
At a risk of omitting the names of some benefactors, we wish to particularly thank research assistant Charles Morrisey, a native of New Brunswick who is a graduate student at Bowling Green; archivist Bob Garcia of Fort Malden National Historic Park in Amherstburg, Ontario; Douglas L. Hendry of Ottawa, who researched various archives in Canada and England for us; Christopher McKee of Grinnell College, whose encyclopedic knowledge of the early American navy proved very beneficial; Peter Rindlisbacher of Amherstburg, a masterful artist of the Great Lakes nautical tradition; Captain Walter B. Rybka, master of the brig Niagara, maintained by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission at Erie; and two superintendents of Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial, Put-in-Bay, Harry C. Myers and Richard A. Lusardi. A particular debt of gratitude is owed Dr. Yu Zhou, assistant professor of geography at Bowling Green State University, who produced the maps and diagrams. Others whose support and interest were important to the final outcome were James C. Bradford, Dennis Carter-Edwards, Kevin P. Crisman, Frederick C. Drake, Timothy Dubé, William S. Dudley, Robert Graham, Donald R. Graves, Harold D. Langley, Donald F. Melhorn, Jr., Patrick Wilder, and a host of staff members at such institutions as the William L. Clements Library, Ann Arbor, Michigan; the National Archives, Washington, D.C.; the Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa; the Institute for Great Lakes Research and the Jerome Library of Bowling Green State University; the Maryland Historical Society, Baltimore; the Naval War College Library and the Newport Historical Society, Newport, R.I.; and the John Hay Library and the Rhode Island Historical Society, Providence. The trustees of the Welch Regiment Museum (41st/69th Foot), Cardiff Castle, South Wales, graciously allowed us to use James Cochrane, “The War in Canada, 1812–1814” (undated manuscript from the 1840s). An enormous debt is owed Paul Wilderson and the editorial staff of the Naval Institute Press, who have provided services and encouragement beyond the ordinary. Finally, we would like to thank our wives, Margo and Cyndee, for the patient faith they showed during this project, which dragged on far longer than they or we ever anticipated.